Gaming With the Devil
by ShipwreckExploration
Summary: Sirius Black had a daughter, up until the day she was murdered, that is. Lion Travers has never had a father, not even memories of having one. Just a lingering accent and incriminating silver eyes that have gotten her into more trouble than she cares to admit too. Sirius Black has a daughter, she just doesn't know it yet.
1. Lost

**AN/ Okay so this is my first Harry Potter Story. It takes place in book five and, outside of this chapter, it will take place mostly from the POV of my OC. I've rated it T because there will be inappropriate language, depictions of war, and brief incest mentions because incest is what grew the Black family tree. Unfortunate but unavoidable. **I do not own Harry Potter, nor am I making money off of my fanfiction, though I wish I was****

**-Sirius' POV-**

Lux Lily Black was a happy baby. She had been ever since she was born, even during the extra two weeks she had been incarcerated in the clear, plastic box in the NICU of St. Mungo's. An incubator, Florence, Marlene's midwife had called it.

Baby detention, James had argued when he and Lily had brought Harry to visit for the first time.

"Honestly, Padfoot, I thought we'd have at least a few months before your daughter decided to follow in your footsteps."

His voice was softer than it was normally, knowing how rough the last few days had been for Marlene and himself. Lily and Marlene sat next to each other, each holding the other's babies. While they were born on the same day, mere hours apart, Harry was much bigger than Lux. Harry had been on time, Lux was two months early. Sirius snorted.

"My footsteps? You're her Godfather, this is all your influence."

Florence let Lily continue to hold Lux while she checked her over. She glanced up at James and himself.

"Are you two brothers?"

"They're married, actually." Marlene replied, deadpanned.

"We're just along for the ride," Lily agreed.

Florence nodded, going along with it.

"So these two are the siblings, then?" She asked, gently touching harry's cheek "Ah, yes. I can see the family resemblance between these beauties."

They- that is to say James, Lily, Remus, Marlene, and Sirius- shared a laugh and proud grins. All except Pete, _who pointed out that that would make them like twins wouldn't it, being born on the same day? We could call them the Marauder Twins, right?_

For once in his life he was right.

Until he shot it all to hell.

* * *

**-October 31, 1981. Sirius' POV-**

"Take her," He said, attempting to push the bundled up baby into his cousin's lax arms. "Take her. Andy, please, just take her."

He knows that it's a surprise for him to be here. All though Andromeda is by far his favorite family member, she's only seen Lux twice. Right after she was born and during Marlene's funeral. He also does not have time to explain the situation.

"Sirius," She says finally "What-"

"Andy, please! Somethings happened, and I need to go check on-" His voice faded away quickly, Lux frowning and twisting in his arms. She had been getting more and more agitated as the night went on, especially when she had seen that they were going to Peter's cottage. Lux had never liked Peter, she had blatantly refused to allow him to hold her in any way, which was strange as Lux was used to being passed around to strangers at order meetings, and did so quite happily. She had even taken a particular shine to Mad Eye, who didn't do much other than bark orders at people and give her unimpressed glares. There were many times when nobody was allowed to touch her, including Marlene's funeral, but those times were brief and sparse.

Except with Peter.

Lily had suggested that maybe it was because Peter was always so nervous and babies were very receptive to emotions, which made sense at the time. But Peter knew that he was coming to check in on him today, yet he wasn't there.

Something was horribly wrong.

"I can't take her with me," He said attempting to unlatch Lux from her position on his hip. Her little hand was wrapped firmly around his jacket so he carefully tugged himself loose and passed her to Andromeda. Lux peered up at him from under the hat that Lily had knitted, looking rather grumpy and confused. The look however turned to what he could only equate to complete betrayal when he passed Andy her nappy bag, seeming to realise for the first time that his intent was to leave her here and go on his way. She scrunched up her face and reached out for him, black dog plushie clutched tightly in one fist.

"Da!"

He takes a quick step back. He has to check on them, James, Lily, and Harry. He has to see if they're alright.

"I'll come back for her as soon as I can."

"Da!" Lux called again, sounding more distressed than she had the first time. He quickly leaned forward and pressed a kiss to her cheek.

"Love you, Paddling. Be good for cousin Andy, yeah?" He asked before he turned and ran for the bike, listening to his daughters wails as he went.

* * *

**-Thirteen Years Later, Remus' POV-**

He knew the facts of the case inside and out.

Lux Lily Black was three years old when she wandered away from her grandmother, Walburga Black, in the apothecary of Knockturn Alley. She got turned around, lost and scared she ran, winding up in Diagon Alley; right outside of Madame Malkin's. Andromeda Tonks (nee Black), her father's cousin found her outside and talked with her while they looked for her grandmother. When Andromeda spotted Walburga in the crowd, she told her daughter, Nymphadora Tonks, to take Lux three shops down to Quality Quidditch Supplies, to allow the grown ups a talk. Lux and Nymphadora were looking in the windows at the new Cleansweep Seven when they were spotted by Everette Holland, who recognised Lux. Holland was seeking revenge for the death of his wife, Elsie, and eight year old son, Joseph, who died in the street explosion caused by Sirius Black. Mad with grief, he aimed his wand at the three year old's back and fired a curse. Lux was taken to St. Mungo's hospital, where she died two days later on December 4, 1983. Everette Holland was sentenced to fourteen years in azkaban prison, but he only served four months before his death in March of 1984.

Anything the Prophet or the Aurors knew, he knew. Not that it was hard. There hadn't been any new information in nearly a decade. The case was open and shut. Lux was dead and Holland had died in prison. The end.

He was, of course, devastated. Lily, James, Marlene, and Peter were dead. Sirius was in Azkaban, and he would be for the rest of his life. Harry and Lux were all that was left. Remus hadn't seen harry since before James and Lily's deaths, but Andromeda had allowed him to see Lux three times in the brief month that she had lived with her. Andromeda loved that baby, he knew, which made him feel better, even if only slightly. Because of his 'condition' he would never be allowed custody of either of the _Marauder Twins_ no matter what the wills said, but if they were well taken care of and happy, who was he to be upset?

It wasn't until he had shown up for the fourth visit that he had discovered that custody of Lux had been given by the ministry to her grandmother, Sirius and Marlene's worst nightmare come true. Andromeda had promised him that she and Ted were trying to fight the custody order with everything they had. Andromeda knew the nightmare that was growing up a Black. If Marlene hadn't been a Pureblood and Regulus hadn't did a year earlier, Walburga wouldn't have even wanted Lux at all.

"_This is her last shot at an heir to the Black family line," Andromeda had told him over tea "There isn't anybody else. Even Narcissa and Bellatrix aren't heirs. Of course it would have been better for Walburga if Lux had been a boy, but she'll be married off as soon as she's of age so she can produce one if Walburga has her way." _She must have seen the look of horror on Remus' face because she quickly added that she would never allow that to happen.

Androdromeda had fought like a true Slytherin, giving him updates once every few months or so. She was the one who had come to his cottage to inform him of what had happened that horrible day in Diagon Alley.

Or at least what she thought had happened.

What she had been told had happened.

Because according to Dumbledore Lux hadn't died at all.

* * *

**-Thirteen Years Later, Sirius' POV-**

"You're lying." Sirius says, shaking his head violently. If there's anything he can't take right now, it more false hope. "You're lying. She's gone, just like Marlene. She's been gone for nearly a decade now." Dumbledore's eyes twinkle infuriatingly.

"On the contrary, my dear boy. Lux Black did not perish following the attack ten years ago, quite the opposite actually from what I've been able to gather." He smiled then and Remus reached over and put a hand on Sirius' shoulder as though to keep him from lunging over the desk at the old codger.

"No." Sirius argued. "People would know. My mother never would have let you give the sole Black heiress to a muggle orphanage. Nor would Andy for that matter." Dumbledore hesitated for a brief second, giving both marauders all the information they needed.

"Unless you lied to them as well."

He watches the Headmaster adjust his glasses.

"Your mother was not informed of Lux's survival, no. And I could not inform Andromeda without raising suspicion."

Remus speaks up for the first time.

"How? How did you manage-"

"You had no right! No Right! You gave _**my **_daughter to the muggles, just like Harry! I said specifically in my will that if James and Lily weren't around, she was to go to Andromeda Tonks. Not Narcissa or Bellatrix, not the muggles, and absolutely, under no circumstances was she to go to my mother! How could you let this happen?" He yells the words at the headmaster but a small part of him aims them at Remus too. He knew what Sirius' family was like, how much he hated them. How could he have just let Lux- innocent little Lux whom had adored her Uncle Moony, letting him hold her when no one else was allowed to, not even Marlene- go with a horrible hag like his mother? Had he really hated Sirius so much that he hated Lux as well? Had he thought that she would turn out dark like he thought his friend to be, or did he want to punish Sirius in some roundabout way? Remus flinches slightly in the chair next to him, as though he heard Sirius' thoughts.

"Unfortunately, Mr. Black, there is very little I can do when the ministry sets its mind to something, especially in things like pureblood custody disputes. Your will was, unfortunately, null and void after your incarceration, meaning your mother had the most legal claim to Lux. Because of her disownment Andromeda had almost no legal claim, and due to the laws banning werewolves from adopting children, Remus was out as well." Albus replied calmly.

"And after the attack perpetrated by Everette Holland-"

Sirius' hands curl into tight fists at the sound of that name. In Azkaban the guards thought it would be an amusing added punishment for the both of them to have cells directly across from each other, forcing Sirius to be face to face with the man who had murdered his baby in revenge for an act neither of them had committed, until the day one of them died. It was a mere four months before Holland quit eating. He got the feeling from Holland's nightly screaming that he felt guilt for what he had done, but it didn't matter. He killed an innocent three year old, and Sirius had no sympathy for him. Holland had only lasted four months before the screaming stopped all together and he succumbed to starvation.

"It became very clear that she would not be safe in the magical world. It was also quite clear that Walburga would never agree to placing Lux anywhere outside of the Black family manor, making her an easy target." The headmaster shifted slightly in his seat. "I will admit that I also saw this as the perfect opportunity to remover her from your mother's questionable-"

He snorts quietly.

"-Care." He looks at Sirius, blue eyes meeting silver. "Sirius. I did believe this to be in her best interest."

"That doesn't explain why you sent her to America, alone! She could have stayed in Britain, even if you had to leave her with the muggles!"

Albus smiles softly then.

"Ah, that may have been an option, but you see Blacks are identifiable by nearly all of magical Britain, you're much like the Weasly's in that respect," His eyes twinkle madly "and Lux most certainly did look like a black. She very easily would have been seen by someone should she have stayed here."

"But why America?" Remus interrupts again, strained voice sounding perturbed. Sirius looked between Remus and Dumbledore. He was clearly missing something. He knew that America was hardly ideal, but it shouldn't have caused the look of dread that he was wearing. Remus and Dumbledore seemed to reach a dismal understanding.

"What?" he asked looking between the two "What's wrong?"

Dumbledore smiled at him soothingly.

"Nothing, dear boy."

He glared at the old man, clenching his jaw.

"Do. Not. Lie to me." When it became apparent that the headmaster wasn't going to say anything else he turned his gaze to his friend. Remus shifted uncomfortably in his chair.

"Er… Sirius, how much do you know about the States?"

He shrugs.

"They've got a half decent quidditch team and some school? Ivermoney?"

"Ilvermorny," Remus corrects immediately. "I- is that all?"

What else is there? The only reason he knew that much is because James hated how the US National team had beat out Wales in the World Cup their fourth year; complained about it until the next World Cup, after they had graduated, when America was decimated by Scotland.

"Ilvermorny was Marlene's safety school. It was the only thing her parents knew would keep her from getting herself expelled." A faint smile pulls up at his lips, remembering the disgusted look on Marlene's face whenever her little sister, Saoirse, had blackmailed her with getting sent to Ilvermorny. The smile faded quickly. "What else is there?"

Remus hesitates, looking at his shoes for a moment before looking back up.

"They've been in the middle of a war for a while now, almost as long as You-know-Who's been gone."

He felt his stomach drop slightly. He stared at Remus' tight face.

"Okay, so we go and get her right now and we bring her here-"

"Sirius." Remus cuts him off.

"Dumbledore will take us to the orphanage or wherever she is, and we'll bring her over here and enroll her in Hogwarts next year-" And he can look out for both she and Harry at the same time like it was always supposed to happen.

"Unfortunately, that will not be possible at the current time." Dumbledore said in an aggravatingly steady tone.

"What do you mean it _will not be possible at the current time_. She can't stay there. It isn't safe. She has to come here." The twinkle in his eye faded slightly but Albus stayed silent.

"Sirius, most of the muggle born and half blood children were evacuated to other countries, especially in big cities like New York. Ilvermorny, the Salem institute, Glesonia, all of the schools have been closed for about five years now." Remus explains. His stomach drops farther.

"But...Lux isn't muggle born or half blood."

"Nobody over there knows that, and even if they did there's no way to prove it. Best case scenario she was evacuated at the beginning of the war."

"So what, she's not in America. Dumbledore knows where she is and we can go get her." There's an awkward sort of silence and he knows that there's something he's not getting here.

"You do… know where she is, _right?" _

Dumbledore adjusts his glasses once more and folds his hands on his desk, saying nothing.

"_You_ _**lost **__my daughter?" _he asks in a dangerously soft voice. Remus grips his shoulder tightly. Dumbledore inhaled deeply.

"When she didn't respond to her letter in the month before what would have been her first year at Hogwarts I came to check on her, but she was already gone. According to the records at Mother Seton's Lux was adopted by a woman named Victoria Brentton when she was five. I've tried to find Ms. Brentton but she doesn't seem to exist. The address that was given to the orphanage was...incorrect."

He saw red.

"You didn't check on her for _eight years_?" Remus gaped, sounding horrified.

"I-"

"Lux has been _**missing**_ for _**A DECADE?!**_" Sirius roared, standing up, his chair flying backwards.

"Now Sirius, I couldn't keep as close an eye on her as I would have like-"

"You didn't keep _an eye_ on her **AT ALL! **You dumped her in an orphanage in a foreign country and forgot about her until she was eleven!"

"Coming to America was in Lux's best interest-"

"Did you even look for her?"

Dumbledore hesitates for a brief second, and he knows instantly that he didn't look. Not really, at least.

"We're looking for her now." Dumbledore says.

"What would have happened if I hadn't escaped Azkaban?" Dumbledore doesn't say anything, which is an answer in itself.

"_Why?" _Remus asks, sounding dazed, as though the Headmaster doing something wrong was world shaking.

"He didn't want Lux to be around Harry," Sirius realizes, enraged. "He didn't want the murderer's daughter in Hogwarts."

Dumbledore sighed again, but he doesn't deny it.

"Sirius, you have to realize that I, like everyone else, believed that you were the man who betrayed Lily and James."

"So you blamed my daughter, a baby-"

"It would not have been healthy for either of the children to be so close to each other-"

"But they were close. They were so close they were almost twins, just like we all had wanted, you had _no right-_"

"Sirius, can you imagine how you would feel if Lux had to attend school, possibly even share a house, with Peter's child, had he had one-" His whole body tensed up and it takes everything he has not to hex the old man into oblivion.

"I knew that she would have to share a school with the spawn of the scum that _murdered her mother_ and the rest of the Mckinnons, so I suppose I could guess how I would feel. Were you planning on banning the Travers' terror from entry for the sake of my daughter, as well? Or is she the only one you don't hand second chances to?" He hissed, straining against Remus' restrictive grip.  
"Padfoot." Remus says softly leaning in to whisper in Sirius' ear "There's nothing we can do about that now," then he addresses the Headmaster.

"How do you intend to find her?"

Dumbledore smiles.

"Before I relocated Lux to America, I arranged wards around her." he gestures to an odd silver instrument nearby. "This is a sensor that would report to me if she were in life threatening danger," he says this as though if forgives the fact that he had lost a three year old.

"And this one," he gestured to another instrument on his desk. "Is to let me know if she were to set foot in England."

Sirius gave him a venomous look that portrayed that he didn't give a damn, what was the purpose in instrument that wouldn't help them find her?

"The location ward alerted me that she arrived in England early Monday morning, and left late last night."

The old man grinned widely, eyes twinkling merrily.

"If my hunch is correct she was in town for the Quidditch World Cup."

**Please, Please, Please**

_**R**_

_**E**_

_**V**_

_**I**_

_**E**_

_**W**_

_**!**_


	2. The Final Task

**A/N: Another chapter! Just a few things, the bold words are Bulgarian, the translations will be at the bottom, in order! There are also some things from the fourth book that are close to canon but not totally. As for the time jump, it takes a long time to find someone who A) doesn't want to/ can't be found B) Dumbledore's little tools only work in certain circumstances, the gap will be explained in greater detail later! Thank you guys so much for the reviews!**

* * *

**-June 24, 1995. Lion's POV-**

The dream is always the same, starting with that little kid crying outside of the shop selling weird dress like things. She's little, really little. Far too young to be alone anywhere. I watch her cry quietly, sniffing and wiping her eyes. After the first dozen times or so I stopped trying to help her. She can never hear or see me, no one can. It doesn't stop me from giving glares to the passersby that look at her and just keep walking. I know what happens next but it doesn't stop me from getting mad. This kid can't be any older than a toddler, how could they just keep on with their lives ignoring her obvious fear? I sign and settle onto the stoop right next to her, leaning my elbows on my knees and chin in my hands. It always takes a while for the woman to come and rescue her. I wait calmly, humming that old song that's been stuck inside of my head since birth. It's a comfort even though I don't have any idea where it came from, the nuns at Mother Seton's didn't sing anything but hymns and definitely not to me. Besides, Sister Mary Martha said I'd been singing it since I arrived.

"Oh, dear."

I cut off mid verse and squint up into the sunlight. I can never really see her face, at least not clearly. It's always too shaded out. The hair is always the same shade of light brown though and she is always holding the hand of another girl. She crouches down in front of us.

"What's wrong, hm? Why are you here by yourself?"

The toddler is always too busy crying to answer, so I say what I always do.

"She's lost."

The girl whose hand the woman was holding- her daughter, I assume- pipes up.

"I think she's lost, mum."

"Are you lost, Love?" the woman asks the toddler, earning a shaky nod. The baby looks up at her for the first time and the woman gasps in what I can only assume is recognition before reaching forward to wipe away her tears. I turn to look at the baby's face like I always do but I can never manage to see her face clearly, same with the other two.

"That's okay. We'll help you find your grandmother."

"How do you know she's looking for her grandmother?" I ask at the same time as the daughter, just like always. It doesn't matter. She never answers either of us. Instead she straightens up and looks into the crowd, asking the baby questions that I can't quite catch.

This is the most infuriating part of these recurring dreams, I can never get any new information no matter how many times they replay. In fact, I never catch any names other than the daughters when the woman inevitably says-

"Dora, would you be a dear and take-"

The sentence cuts out for a moment.

"-to look at the new brooms for a moment?"

The daughter, Dora, doesn't waste any time in taking the little kid's hand and leading her over to a store about three shops down the road. I try desperately to catch a glimpse of any of the shop names but the letters may as well be hieroglyphics for how well I can understand them. I have to know these people, the dream feels too real to just be a dream, and why would I repeatedly dream about made up people? It doesn't make sense.

I watch Dora pick up the kid and settle her on her hip.

"Do you see that one right there?" She points to something in the window. "That's the new Cleansweep Seven. It's the best Broom in the world!"

That sentence right there is one of the only real pieces of information in this whole thing, and only because the Cleansweep Seven was only the best broom in the world the year it came out, 1983, because the Comet 220 beat it out in January of 1984.

And Callie thinks my knowledge of brooms is a waste of time.

The baby sags a little.

"Grandmother doesn't let me fly. She says it's not for ladies. But I think I used to like to-" She cuts off covering her mouth like she's said something foul.

Dora snorts.

"Lots of witches fly! They play quidditch even! Myra Glasgow is the best keeper in the league right now, she plays for the Harpies. I want to play quidditch when I get to school but I'm probably too clumsy to make the team…"

The kid is quiet for a moment.

"I think you could… if you wanted to."

I feel more than see Dora grin.

"Thanks!" She puts the kid down "Mum and Dad said I could get a broom for my eleventh birthday, which is next month. I'm hoping to get the seven, but I guess the six would be pretty cool too."

The conversation cuts off again, replaced by an odd static sound and I know what is going to happen next.

"Move." I say, even though I know that they can't hear me. "Something bad is going to happen! Move! Go find your mother!" I try to grab the kids' hands and pull them away but mine pass right through them. "Please leave! You aren't safe!"

It's too late.

A bright jet of plum colored light hits the little kid square between the shoulders.

* * *

I wake up with a start, sharp phantom pains arching through the scars on my back making my muscles spasm. I flinch when someone puts their hand on my spine, right where the spell would have collided with that kid's flesh. It's stupid. Nobody really knows what happened to me, but I know that it isn't spell damage. I grew up in the Bronx, I didn't set foot in a wizarding village until I was nearly ten years old and by the time I realized I was magic both Themyscira Academy for Exceptional Young Ladies and Thalarion School of Wizardry had shut down the dormitories, meaning students floo-ed straight home after our classes were finished for the day. That isn't even beginning to mention that hexes don't cause scars like that. Doc Stetson says it's more than likely just my brain trying to understand the damage done to my nerves, like when someone who lost a limb in an accident dreams of getting that limb bitten by a shark. I hate my brain for making things so much more complex than they need to be. Doc Stetson says I'm lucky whatever it was didn't sever my spinal cord, I very well could have been paralyzed from the neck down.

I'd really be dead then.

The hand rubs my back, ignoring my sweat soaked t-shirt.

"**Dobro Utro." Mamo**, my host mother while I stay in Bulgaria, greets when she notices my open eyes. I smile at her and she brushes loose hair out of my eyes. **Mamo**'s first name is Lyubov, which means 'to love others.' I've never met anyone with a name so fitting, loving others comes as naturally to her as breathing. This is my third summer staying in Bulgaria, which doesn't even add up to a year of close contact, yet she loves me fiercely, like she does Viktor. I think that she's lonely now that Viktor's technically an adult, she misses having children around. I turn seventeen this summer, which will end my participation in the exchange program. I won't be invited back to my apprenticeship next year. I close my eyes and push away the sadness rising in me. I focus on the feeling of being mothered.

It's a nice feeling.

"**Dobro Utro, Mamo." **I say back with a smile. I squint into the windows and notice that the sun is just now starting to rise. What are we doing up so early? I have to think for a moment before I realize, shooting upward and knocking her hand away on accident.

"**Dnes e denyat!"**

She laughs at my enthusiasm, though I can see that she is practically glowing with excitement.

"**Stanete i gotovi! Trŭgvame sled chas."**

I shoot out of bed, making it quickly as she leaves the room. Viktor, adrenaline junkie that he is, put his name in the goblet of fire and made himself the Durmstrang Champion in the Triwizard Tournament.

Because catching the snitch in the Quidditch World Cup just wasn't enough of a competition for one year, I guess. Not that I'm one to judge. If I were in his shoes I would have done the same thing, just to pummel the Hogwarts champion, therefore embarrassing Barty Crouch Sr. by proxy.

I might even spit in his beady eyes just to be sure that he gets my message loud and clear.

It's probably a good thing they didn't think to let the States participate.

I shove the thoughts aside because today is the final task, the only one that the families were invited to watch, and **Mamo** and **Tate **had to get special permission to bring me along.

I told them not to go through all of the trouble, I could always go home a few days early or go to Spain with Topher, but apparently Viktor insisted.

_Probably just because he wants me to meet _Hermione.

Honestly, in the three years we've been shooting letters back and forth at each other, I've never heard him gush about a girl like that. He even said he was thinking about asking her to come visit him in Bulgaria.

I dig through my backpack for the hundredth time checking for my passport, student visa, government ID, Student ID, wallet, and wand.

I wouldn't put it past Crouch to try and deport me based off a technicality.

"**Zakushka!" **

"**Idvasht, Mamo!"**

* * *

Hogwarts is a lot prettier than I expected it to be, which puts something bitter in my stomach. We are portkeyed into a lavish room by way of a china teapot depicting one of the goblin revolts, though I can't tell which. There's three other families already waiting, one is a group of three with hair like corn silk, the next is just a woman and a man with brown hair, and the third is what looks like a redheaded mother and her son.

A portly little man with rumpled grey hair smiles and claps his hands together.  
"Ah, so we're all finally here!"

Like it's our fault that it takes three hours to get through customs that were supposed to have already been opened. I glance quickly at my watch, frowning.

We're ten minutes early.

Mamo and Tate glance over at each other in confusion, and I realize that the man couldn't even be bothered to use a translation charm.

"**A, taka che naĭ-nakraya vsichki sme tuk." **I relay over to them. I notice that the child of the couple with corn silk hair, who can't be any older than ten, is doing the same with her parents. I snatch whispers in french, meaning that the family belongs to Fluer Delacour, the Beauxbaton's champion.

Making the brunettes and redheads the families of the Hogwarts champions.

"It has been and honor to host the first Triwizard Tournament in nearly two hundred years!"

_It's been two hundred and two. _I think to myself. I'm assuming that this guy is some sort of grunt, an assistant for Crouch, or someone else on the bottom of the totem pole in the Department of International Magical Cooperation, so I keep my mouth shut other than to translate what he says into Bulgarian.

"You're children have all competed with bravery and honor-"

"**Vie ste detsa, vsichki se sŭstezavakha s khrabrost i chest-"**

"_Vous êtes des enfants, tous en compétition avec courage et honneur-" _the little girl says to her parents, causing some toadish woman in pink to step forward.

"_Hem- hem_. If you don't mind, the minister is speaking." Her voice is sickening, it sounds the way pepto bismol tastes and makes the hairs on my arms stand up. The little girl's face flushes bright red, filling me with fury. If this pathetic little man is minister, not some lackey, then his mistakes are inexcusable because he has no reason to be ignorant. I step forward.

"Actually, we _do _mind. Only the parents of the **Hogwarts **champions speak English, and seeing as your minister did not cast a translator charm, this young lady and I are translating it for our parents ourselves. I am assuming that this _lovely _speech is for them, as well, is it not?"

I cock my head slightly to the left and widen my eyes innocently. The minister chokes, flustered, and adjusts his clothing.

"Right," he stumbles "well-"

The pink woman gives me an appraising look, like she wonders exactly what it is she could arrest me for. Her eyes linger just above my left eye, glancing between me and the Krums, then her lips curl. She's not the first person to do that and she won't be the last. I flick my wand silently behind my back as soon as she turns away, feeling the faint burn as the glamour sets in. Nobody notices the change, which suits me just fine. The little girl gives me a small smile and I give her one back. Mamo puts her hand on my shoulder.

"**Kakvo stana?" **Tate asks. I turn to them and murmur out an explanation. Mamo's eyes hone in on the pink toad as she unnecessarily smooths my hair, every strand of which is either pinned into two braids or gelled to my forehead. The minister looks ready to continue his speech when a stern looking woman pokes her head in.

"Minister, you're needed in the judges' quarters."

"Ah, um, yes of course." He glances around and us and then leaves without another word.

This man is leading a country.

After another few minutes of waiting they finally let in the champions, the first of which is a girl about my age who looks like a bigger version of the french child. She must be Fluer. I bounce up and down on my heels, watching as Fleur's parents gush over her. She jabbers to all of them so quickly I can't keep up with a word she's saying.

I should spend more time studying french now that I'm fluent in Bulgarian and I tested out of Spanish. I make a mental note to increase the intensity of my lessons next semester.

Maybe Troika only takes students who are fluent in french.

Mamo takes ahold of my hand and Tate grips her shoulder. The door swings open once more.

* * *

**-Same day. Harry's POV-**

"So Harry-" Fred starts, as he and his twin slide into the chairs across from him.

"Did you know-" George continues.

"Dumb Krum has a sister?" Fred finishes.

To be honest, he didn't know that Krum had a sister, but he can't convince himself to care. The final task is in less than an hour. He glances over toward Viktor and his family anyway. There is a dark haired girl sitting next to him. He watches as she laughs at something he said and reaches over to ruffle his hair, Krum rams her shoulder with his in retaliation. He can't help but blink in surprise, noting how almost _happy _Krum looks.

"Is he… smiling?" Ron asks, sounding vaguely awestruck.

Hermione lets out an exasperated smile.

"Yes, Ronald. He's smiling. And that's Lion, she isn't his sister."

Fred's eyebrows shoot upward.

"Her name is _Lion?_"

"Girlfriend then? How did he get a girl like that?" Ron leaned around Hermione to get a better look.

"He's a famous quidditch player, you git. How hard could it be?" George snorted.

Harry adjusted his glasses and focused more closely on the girl. She didn't, in fact, look to be related to Krum at all. Her hair was black, compared to the brown of he and his parents, and her skin was a lot darker compared to theirs. She caught them looking and raised her eyebrows before sending them a goofy sort of smile. Ron wasn't wrong, she was pretty, but there was something strangely familiar about her. He frowned deeply, watching as the smile faded off of her face. For a brief moment he thought that she may have recognized him too, but she turned away rather quickly.

"She's not his girlfriend!" Hermione snapped, waspishly.

"Oh, so they're just friends like you then?" Ron snapped back, causing her to flush red.

"_No. _She's his foreign exchange student."

"_His what?" _

"His foreign exchange student! Well, sort of she's more of an apprentice than a student-" She looked around at the lot of them realizing that none of them knew what she was saying.

"_Foreign exchange students _are students from other countries that live with your family while they go to school- or in Lion's case her job- in your country. They sort of become part of your family, Viktor calls her his exchange sister."

"So where's she from?" Harry inquired, glancing back over at her. There was something off with her, he just couldn't put his finger on it...

"America."

"AMERI-" Ron bellowed, causing nearly everyone in the great hall to turn to look at them.

"Shhhhhhh!" Hermione hissed. "Do you want everyone to know that we're talking about her?"

"America!" Ron yelled in a whisper, "Percy says their crazy out there, like savages! He says people just kill each other in the streets-"

"Oh, honestly Ronald. Don't be ridiculous. They aren't _savages-_"

"They are so! Percy says they don't even use wands!"

George shakes his head.

"That's just lies that the ministry made up to keep people from trying to go there and bring back another dark lord."

Dumbledore rose from his seat at the staff table.

"*Ladies and gentlemen, In five minutes time I will be asking you to make your way down to the quidditch field for the third and final task of the Triwizard Tournament-*"

* * *

**A/N: That last line is from The Goblet of Fire, it was written by JK Rowling, not me! The next chapter should be from Sirius/Remus' perspective. This is mostly a chapter explaining the semantics of it all, the next chapter should be the beginning of the Good Stuff ™ . Here is the translated conversations:**

**(Mamo= Mom)**

**(Tate= Dad)**

**M-Good morning **

**L-Good morning, mom. **

**L-Today is the day!**

**M-Get up and ready. We leave in an hour.**

**M- Breakfast!**

**L-Coming, Mom! **

**(Anything that isn't English in that whole section is just Lion and Gabrielle translating exactly what fudge said) The last sentence in Bulgarian is just "What happened?"**


	3. Testing Day

**-July 8th, 1995. Remus' POV-**

Gilmore Landing is nothing more than a pile of bricks disguised as an apartment building, but it's where the Krums said that Lux lives when she isn't either at school or in Bulgaria with them. A sinking feeling settles deep into Remus' stomach.

He's lived in many places like Gilmore Landing over the years when the job market would run dry, like it always does eventually. The kind of place that is one step above being homeless and only because there's a roof to keep the weather off. They watch as a police car drives passed slowly, like a shark circling prey.

"What a cheerful neighborhood!" Dumbledore exclaims brightly, opening the front door and ushering them inside. The man at the front desk glances up from a small black and white television on the counter where Muggles were kicking a ball back and forth on the screen.

"No dogs in here." He says in a bored voice, eyeing Padfoot in blatant disinterest.

"He's a service dog." Remus says, toting out the lie he's used a hundred or so times. The man at the desk glances between Sirius and Remus for a moment like he wants to argue, then he takes a good look at Dumbledore's violet robes, seemingly deciding it's not worth it and buzzing them in.

"Thank you!" Dumbledore says, bright as ever.

"Whatever." The guy grumbles as Padfoot darts through the door and down the hall, looking regretful already. Remus has to jog to keep up, the headmaster drifting along behind them. The address the Krums gave leaves them up to apartment fourteen on the sixth floor. The 'one' in the metal 'fourteen' on the door is gone, leaving only a dark outline behind where it once was.

He raises his fist and knocks on the door.

Once. Twice.

Finally the door swings open to reveal a blonde teenage girl in a pair of pajama pants. He can hear the sound of a childrens' television programme playing behind them. She looks them all up in down.

"Look, whatever you're selling we're not buying so-"

"Kate?" someone yells from inside "Who is it?"

Another girl comes up behind her, maybe twelve years old. The blonde looks at the younger girl, nodding behind her. "Tell him to shut up before he wakes Rick."

Then she turned back to them raising her eyebrows like _well?_

"We aren't selling anything. We're looking for an… Ella Proctor?" Remus asks.

Kate wrinkles up her nose.

"Who?"

He shifts slightly, glancing over at Dumbledore.

"Ella Proctor? We were told she lived here."

Kate rolls her eyes in obvious annoyance.

"I don't know any Ella. Somebody gave you the wrong address." she made to shut the door in their faces, but Remus quickly stopped her from closing it all the way.

"Please, if you would just look at this picture." Dumbledore asks, extending the polaroid that Viktor had given him. Padfoot whines quietly, eyes tracking the photograph. He had hardly let it go since they had gotten it, even though it was outdated by about two years.

The girl glances at the picture, face softening for a second before closing off again before passing it back.

"She doesn't go by Ella. I don't think she ever has."

Remus let out an audible sigh of relief, Padfoot's tail wagging frantically.

"You know her?"

She eyed them again.

"Her name's Lion. She used to live here, but she hasn't been around in a while. A year or so at least. Whatever kind of trouble she's in, we have nothing to do with it."

Dumbledore spoke up quietly next to him.

"Her host family said that this is her current address."

Kate sneers at him with cold eyes.

"Yeah, well technically it is, except that Rick and Sherryl don't care where we are as long as we show up for inspection day. She's either staying with friends or she's living on the street again. That's how it works around here."

Suddenly there was the sound of a toddler crying behind her. She curses quietly under her breath.

"I don't know anything else. I have to go." she said before closing the door loudly. He stared at the closed door as though the girl from the picture might open it and admit that the whole thing was some kind of joke. Of course she lived here with the other kids.

Padfoot whines again, louder than before, beginning to pace.

His shoulders sag at the idea of yet another dead end.

"Do you think she was telling the truth?" He asks as they turn and begin walking toward the front of the building once more.

Dumbledore sighed in response.

"I'm afraid so."

Sirius growls at him, hackles raised, like he might actually bite the headmaster for getting them all into this mess. Remus considered letting him; after all, placing a tracking charm on a toddler is magic a fourth year could do.

"Wait!" Someone calls from behind them. "Wait!"

They stopped turning around to face the younger girl they had seen behind Kate.

"Yes?" Remus asked her, noticing the baseball bat she gripped in one hand.

"Are you guys pervs?"

He choked, face flushing with embarrassment.

"Excuse me?"

"Are you guys pervs? Y'know, perverts? Dudes that like-"

"I know what you meant." he interrupted quickly "Why would you think that?"

The girl shrugged, brown pigtails bobbing.

"Only people that come around here looking for girls are cops and pervs. You guys don't look like cops. And you didn't answer my question."

Dumbledore grinned at her.

"No, my dear, we are not- as you called us- perverts. We are friends of Lion's family."

The girls eyes narrowed.

"Lion doesn't got any family. None of us do. That's why we live here."

"Yes, she does." Remus spoke again "We have been looking for her for a very long time. I'm Remus and this is Albus." He gestured to the headmaster. She looked at him for a second.

"And your dog?"

He laughed.

"This is Padfoot." Padfoot barked softly in response, walking closer to the girl and sniffing her tank top.

"He's big," the kid noted "Can I pet him?"

"Sure." She pet him quietly for a moment, scratching him behind the ears.

"I'm Mattie," She said finally. "You're not gonna hurt her, right?"

"What?"

"Lion. You aren't going to hurt her or take her to jail or something, right?"

"Of course not." Albus assured as Sirius whined quietly.

She was quiet for a moment longer.

"Kate lied. Lion doesn't live with us anymore, hasn't for a while, but she stops in to check on us all the time. As long as Rick isn't home. She doesn't like him much."

Padfoot yipped, tail wagging quickly again.

"When is the last time you saw her?" Dumbledore inquired gently.

"Day before yesterday. She probably won't be back until next week."

"Do you have any idea where she might be now?"

Mattie shrugs.

"Lion moves around a lot, but there's a couple places she likes to hang out."

"Where?" She pats the dog quietly for another minute.

"Mattie, where?"

Padfoot gently nudges her knee with his nose.

"You promise you're not going to get her in trouble? She's really nice."

Remus moved closer so he could look her in the eye.

"Mattie, I promise that we are here to keep Lion safe, the last thing we want is to get her into trouble, but we need to know where she is."

She nodded slowly before taking a deep breath.

"She goes to this all girls school for special kids? I guess they're open all year round. She's staying in the dorms for the summer."

"Ilvermorny?"

Mattie frowned, giving them a weird look.

"No, it's called Themyscira Academy for Extraordinary Young Ladies or something like that? She's been going there for forever, but I've never been. She says that you have to go through some '_magical witch portal'_ in the cupboard of the Chimera Cafe on Fifth and Park to get there, but I think she was just being weird."

Mattie rolled her blue eyes, smirking a little.

Padfoot barked happily and licked her face, causing her to laugh before frowning and looking up at Remus.

"Is he an old dog?"

He nearly laughed at the affronted look on the dogs face.

"Why do you ask?"

Mattie frowns.

"It's just, Lion had a stuffed puppy like Padfoot. It's- like- _really_ old. Older than me. She said that she's had it her whole life. He has the same name so I thought maybe…"

* * *

**-Remus' POV. Reminiscing-**

The last time he saw Lux, she was nearing sixteen months old and wandering around Andromeda's sitting room. She would toddle off to a basket of toys in the corner, pick one up and bring it back to him. He currently had a snitch the size of a tennis ball and a hippogryph sitting on the table in front of him. Marlene and Lily had managed to teach Harry and Lux to share with each other at a very young age, causing both of them to 'share' nearly everything with everyone. Lux had most famously attempted to share a pink, singing pygmy puff with Mad-Eye Moody and, when rejected, had screamed until he held it, much to the amusement of the rest of the Order. She was also chronically attempting to feed cheerios to Sirius, like she was sure he would starve to death without her contributions.

"Mooey," She cooed, offering him the black dog plushie that she toted around by the red bandana- decorated with bludgers and beater's bats- around its neck. When he made no move to take the toy in his ex-friend's likeness, she set it in his lap and went on her merry way, back to the basket. Andromeda raised her eyebrows in polite surprise. Nearly everything Andromeda did was carefully polite.

"You must really be something special, she never lets that thing go. I had to take it away to wash it last week and got quite the talking to."

He gave a short burst of laughter, resisting the urge to violently push the toy to the ground or, even better, into the fireplace. Be rid of the traitor once and for all, but he could imagine how well that would be received, the shock on Andromeda's face and the confused fear and pain on Lux's. It was the last thing that she would ever have of Sirius and, murderer or not, he was her father. He very much doubted that he would be welcomed back if he began to spontaneously burn Lux's toys.

Lux toddled back, handing him a stuffed wolf wearing another bandana, this one covered with wands shooting colored sparks.

"Mooey," She said slowly, then passed him the stuffed stag, whose quidditch themed bandana was tangled in its antlers.

"Pong." She said just as slowly, as though to make sure he got the picture.

He did not.

"That's right," he agreed "Where's wormy? Can you find him?"

She gave him a rather cross look.

"No!" She scolded. "Bad!"

He blinked.

Lux had always seemed to think that anything relating to Peter and the word _No _were synonymous, but the word _Bad _was brand new entirely. She frowned before extending her arms in the familiar _Up _gesture. He complied, lifting her up and setting her on his lap. She absently patted her hands against his sweater, humming a more contented sound, before teetering slightly and mashing her face into the fabric. The movement was so familiar that it was painful. His eyes stung, remembering Harry doing the same in the Potter's living room. He hadn't seen Harry since the funeral and- just like the Potters, the Prewitts, Doracus, Marlene, Sirius, Peter, and so many others- he never would again. He sighed quietly, rubbing his hand up and down Lux's small back in a short pattern, noticing for the first time the onesie that Andromeda had dressed her in was Marlene's favorite, with tiny blue flowers blooming on its white surface. He remembered how Marlene had sobbed when Lux has outgrown the first one- which she later blamed on the post pregnancy hormones- causing Sirius to go to the shop and buy it again in every size going up.

"_Dunno what she's going to do when Lux is out of baby clothes,"_ he joked with James "_Hopefully we won't have to make one that will fit under her Hogwarts robes."_

He wondered if Sirius knew then that he would betray them, if he had been planning how to kill his friends at that moment or if those ideas came later. Did he really love Lux and Marlene or was he just pretending the whole time? He had abandoned the baby with Andromeda, so he clearly had no intentions of taking the one year old on the run with him. How could he have named his child a word that means _light _if he was a death eater, something so distinctly dark? It had made sense before, Sirius once more spitting in the face of his parents and their family name, christening the sole Black heir not only against tradition- cutting out stars and constellations all together- but after a muggle born as well. But now it seemed so odd, so very not Sirius...

The baby shifted, turning to look up at him with those pale grey eyes that were so much like his former best friend's.

"Mooey, Da? Go Da?"

She had asked him this every time he had come to visit, trying to figure out if _today _was the day that he would finally take her back home to the others.

It never was.

* * *

**-July 8th, 1995. Remus' POV-**

It takes them a lot longer to find the Chimera Cafe than he would have hoped, but it takes even longer to even get close to finding her. After the vanishing cabinet in the Cafe spit them out in a little village called Spellbrook, on an island called Ogygia (which he was sure wasn't on any map he had ever studied), and a kind shophand had given them directions to the only all girls secondary education institution in the country, they still have to spend half an hour trying to get the enchanted gates to let them through.

Apparently entry is forbidden without a student ID, an official visitor's key card, or a personal invite from Headmistress Athena Blackthorne herself.

It isn't until the Headmaster introduces himself as Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore, Supreme Mugwump of the International Confederation of Wizards, there with his two advisors there on a matter of urgent security challenges that had arisen unexpectedly, that the gate hesitantly swings open and allows them entry with firm instructions to go to the front office and nowhere else.

Once inside the gates they follow behind Sirius, happily trotting along in dog form, up the path through the grounds, and into the sprawling mansion. He can't help but notice that lack of staff and students on the grounds, which seem well loved all though empty. There's an archery range in the distance, beautiful gardens, some sort of muggle sporting track, and even canoes where the grounds met with the ocean. It had been nearly four o'clock when they had left the Bronx, at Hogwarts there were always students on the grounds after dinner unless there was a storm raging.

A quick glance at the sky reveals it to be as cloudless as it was in New York, if not more so. It seems brighter here somehow…

Sirius runs ahead, standing on his hind legs and putting his front paws up on the counter in the front office, receiving an airy shriek from the plump woman at the desk. Remus rolls his eyes and wrestles Sirius off of the counter, apologising profusely for his dog's behavior. She smiles cheerfully at them all the while Dumbledore is talking, up until he announces his need for an immediate audience with the Headmistress.

"Nope!" She says, voice chirpy. "Sorry! Its testing day! Nobody in or out of the lecture room until the exams are all over, graded, and the results have been announced!"

"Ma'am, it really is an emergency-"

"You're lucky it's the last test day of the season, or you wouldn't be allowed to see the Headmistress for the rest of the week!"

"This is a matter of a missing child-"

"I've heard, and as unfortunate as that is, I am not permitted to give out personal student information to anyone outside of the child in question's _legal _guardian; FERPA and all that," She smiled sweetly at the headmaster, giving her hand a flippant wave and earning a loud snarl from Sirius. "As an educator I'm sure you understand."

"If you would just find someone who is permitted-"

"It is forbidden to interrupt an exam for any reason outside of a life and death situation, and I know the student in question isn't in danger as I saw her alive and well this morning-"

"So she _is_ here!"

"I must ask you all to either _take a seat and wait until the test is over _or take your leave."

"Madame-"

"I'm sorry sirs those are your only two options." Though the woman's voice is still kind, there is a firmness in it that leaves no room for argument. Even Dumbledore's title as Supreme Mugwump does not sway her in any sort of way other than a single raised eyebrow and a pointed glance at the padded armchairs in the waiting room through the window. They settle into the chairs in defeat, ready to wait the woman out. After about an hour of waiting she brings them a large tray full of sandwiches, tea, and juice, then a large plate of meat and a bowl of water which she sets on the ground in front of Sirius.

"It would be lunch time for the girls, so I figured you would be hungry yourselves," she gives Remus and Padfoot rather pointed looks as if to say _especially you two. _

"Lunch?" He can't help but ask "It must be nearly six by now-"

She laughs.

"That was New York City time, dear. They're a good five hours ahead of us. The good news is is that if everything has gone according to schedule, which it nearly always does, the results should be announced by the time you're finished!"


End file.
